A/N: Though I love these characters dearly, I do not own them or the TV show Criminal Minds.

Emily Prentiss sat at her desk, smiling happily and watching the hustle and bustle of the agents around her going about their day. She hadn't been at the BAU very long, but she already felt like she was becoming a part of a family. A very diverse family who spent their days catching serial killers and their nights trying not to think about crime scene photos, but a family just the same.

The team had returned to Quantico this morning from a case in Texas and gone right to work at the BAU, writing reports and going through case files. Thankfully, the abduction case had ended happily, with all of the children returned to their families unharmed. Spirits were high, considering the unlikelihood of a case going so well, with no casualties. They all knew that this was a rare one and were determined to enjoy it, riding this high as long as possible before JJ presented them with the next case.

The young agent and communications liaison looked down into the bullpen, laughing at her friends' 'basketball game.' Reid, Morgan, and Garcia all sat in office chairs with a pile of neon post-its. They would spin in the chairs and then throw the wadded up post-it balls into the trash can across from them. Whoever had the most post-it balls in their designated color that made it into the trash can before Hotch came down and ended their game would be deemed the winner. Whoever had the least would be paying for the first round of drinks later.

JJ was pleased to see her friends enjoying themselves, especially Reid, who had taken the recent loss of Jason Gideon from their team quite hard. She figured it would be awhile before Hotch interrupted; he was proud of their work on this last case and quite pleased with the outcome. She decided to take a break before deciding on a new case. Everyone deserved it. JJ noticed Emily sitting alone at her desk and was concerned, as Emily seemed to be lost in her own world. Garcia had just come dangerously close to falling off her spinning chair into Emily, but the newest BAU member hadn't blinked an eye.

JJ headed down to the bullpen to check on her friend. She absolutely loved Emily and they had grown to be pretty close friends in the time since Emily had been here. JJ smiled to herself, realizing it had been almost a year. Typically, new BAU agents needed much longer to prove themselves, but Emily was easily a member of the family by now.

JJ approached Emily's desk and sat on the edge.

"Hey Em, you okay?"

"Oh, hey," Emily snapped out of it and smiled up at JJ. "Yeah, just thinking."

"You wanna talk about it?" JJ asked.

"It's nothing, JJ," Emily sounded sincere. "Just glad to be here."

JJ smiled back and leaned over to squeeze her friend's hand, but was stopped cold when a post-it hit her in the face. Emily burst out laughing.

"Hey!" JJ yelled to the others in mock anger.

"Ladies, you better get over here and start playing with us or one of you is gonna be buying us drinks!" Morgan yelled back.

The girls laughed and pulled chairs over to the others, knowing that opportunities to laugh and play didn't come often in this job.

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